When comparing Ubuntu MATE vs Bodhi, the Slant community recommends Ubuntu MATE for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?”Ubuntu MATE is ranked 20th while Bodhi is ranked 39th. The most important reason people chose Ubuntu MATE is:

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project.

Pros

Pro

Perfect for people who like Gnome 2

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project.

Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system.

Pro

Works great on old laptops

It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops.

Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch.

Pro

Behaves like Ubuntu with Unity - after Ubuntu-Gnome transformation

No better place to continue Unity experience with Ubuntu (Left-side panel, HUD) and not as awkward as Gnome

Pro

Low resource consumption

Pro

Minimal base system

The philosophy for the distribution is to provide a minimal base system so that users can populate it with the software they want. Thus, by default it only includes software that is essential to most Linux users, including file browsers (EFM), a web browser (Midori) and a terminal emulator (Terminology).

Pro

Built in compositing

Bohdi Linux has built in compositing. Users can choose a composited desktop upon first boot by choosing the fancy profile.

Pro

Different profiles to choose on first startup

Bohdi Linux offers a few different profiles to choose from when first booting the OS.

Cons

Con

Not bleeding edge

Users who want the latest and greatest software would be happier using Arch Linux, Antergos or another rolling release distro. However, because Ubuntu MATE is based on Ubuntu, users still have access to a large repository of recent software.

Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Ubuntu MATE install.